MAINTAIN NETWORK AVAILABILITY
WITH AUTOMATIC NETWORK
FAILOVER TO CELLULAR
ACS 6008 Advanced
Console Server
PSTN
Out-of-band
Remote Site
4G LTE
Out-of-band
ACS 6008 Advanced
Console Server
ACS 6000 Advanced
Console Server
PDU
Cisco Switch
Firewall
Windows Server
Router
Linux Server
UNIX Server
UPS
INTERNET /
COMPANY
LAN
Corporate IT
Company Data Center
Remote Site
TYPICAL REMOTE
ACCESS SCENARIO:
yy Company X has a large data
center servicing three distinct
geographies with 20 remote
offices and 2000 users
yy IT staff are located at the main
data center
yy IT staff needs to monitor, access
and maintain network equipment
for the entire organization
regardless of location
yy Remote offices operate 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week
yy A recent network configuration
error has isolated a single
geography affecting five remote
offices and 500 users
yy Every hour during the outage
results in a revenue loss of $3M
The Challenge
Maintaining network availability, while managing cost, is a challenging exercise in any
data center environment. When the data center is implemented across buildings and
locations, the task takes on a new level of difficulty. There are many tools for managing
IT infrastructures remotely but some availability issues require physical access to
systems to determine the nature of the outage. When the site is remote, system access
has the added cost of travel or the expense of a remote resource. This brief explores
management strategies that enable remote diagnosis and repair of IT system issues
even when the primary network is down. Enhanced remote management capability helps
IT managers exceed their availability goals while reducing costs.
Many organizations still manage networking systems vis SSH/Telnet over the production
network but best practices dictate management through a second network dedicated
solely to management tasks. This second network is referred to as the out-of-band
network and it allows constant connectivity to network infrastructure without
dependence on the production network.
Secondary management networks (out-of-band) are becoming the standard at most
large data centers but it is not always financially feasible to have redundant networks for
out-of-band access at remote sites. Historically, a network outage at a remote site was
resolved by dispatching a technician. This method was slow and costly. Today, IT
managers commonly access and manage remote sites over an analog dial-up modem.
However, some sites can be difficult to “wire” with analog lines or the installation could
take several months. The cost of provisioning an analog line can also be prohibitive at
certain sites. These factors have led many IT managers to seek a new alternative-cellular connectivity. With today’s high speed cellular networks, a cellular modem
provides an efficient method for maintaining connectivity and reliability at a remote site.
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MAINTAIN NETWORK AVAILABILITY WITH AUTOMATIC
NETWORK FAILOVER TO CELLULAR
The Solution
The Vertiv™ Avocent® ACS 6000 Advanced Console Server is
designed to help Company X, resolve the outage quickly and
minimize lost revenue. The Avocent ACS 6000 provides streamlined
out-of-band access to remote sites through a separate management
network, an internal dial up modem or 3G/4G/LTE cellular uplink.
There is no need to lose time and money by sending a technician
on-site to troubleshoot and repair problems with remote networks.
Skilled staff can centrally remedy problems with the Avocent ACS.
In the above scenario the ACS 6000 provides emergency access
through the 3G/4G/LTE cellular uplink. When a primary network
connection becomes unavailable, the ACS 6000 can automatically
failover to the cellular network for out-of-band remote access. The
cellular modem feature on the Avocent ACS 6000 provides the
flexibility to choose the cellular carrier and cellular modem. The
modem is connected to the ACS 6000 via USB.
The automatic network failover to cellular feature on the ACS 6000
helps IT managers reduce the cost, complexity and risk of managing
remote locations, while also improving service levels.
Summary
Cellular Wireless Modem Connection
Advances in cellular connectivity have made the
technology more affordable and accessible over the last
ten years. Enabling cellular connectivity at remote sites
improves flexibility, allowing access through a primary
network connection, via traditional analog modem or
with a USB cellular modem. The cellular modem
provides an alternate path to the ACS 6000 if the
primary network connection goes down.
Cellular modems must be provisioned by the cellular
carrier. Once the modem is provisioned and connected
via USB, the ACS6000 is easily configured for cellular
connectivity through the user interface.
Failover Mode
Failover occurs when a primary network interface goes
down or when an IP/gateway becomes inaccessible.
Failover can be enabled using a secondary network
connection or via a USB Cellular modem. With the
failover feature enabled, the Avocent ACS 6000
automatically connects the secondary (cellular)
network when the primary network is unreachable.
The ACS 6000 has the added benefit of fallback; it will
automatically reconnect to the primary network when
service is restored. An administrator can also select
one of the four triggers for automatic failover via the
web-based user interface:
The Avocent ACS offers several cost effective options for managing
IT at remote sites. In the event of a network failure, the ACS 6000
provides two methods for accessing remote IT systems. An internal
dial-up modem provides out-of-band access over standard telephone
lines; and the more flexible 3G/4G/LTE cellular uplink provides
automatic failover to wireless in the event of a network outage.
Cellular connectivity is the perfect option for locations that are hard
to “wire” or as a back-up connection for sites with high availability
requirements. The ACS is designed to meet the needs of any
environment and has several methods for accessing heterogeneous,
distributed network infrastructure via cellular modem:
1. Primary Interface Down
yyStatic public IP with Secure IPSec VPN
Call Home
yyAutomatic failover and fallback
yyCall Home via Avocent DSView™ Management Software
Vertiv’s market-leading Avocent ACS 6000 is a secure, robust,
reliable, easy to use console that simplifies out-of-band management
of routers, servers, storage and rack PDUs. In data centers and
remote sites, the ACS 6000 help IT administrators manage, monitor,
diagnose, troubleshoot and effectively maintain IT availability.
For more information please visit our website at www.VertivCo.com
2. Unreachable Primary Default gateway
3. Unreachable DSView
4. Unreachable IP Address
The Avocent ACS 6000 Advanced Console Server can
call home and update DSView with its failover address
in the wired or cellular mode. This feature requires the
use of Avocent DSViewTM centralized management
software and configuration with the Avocent
ACS 6000.
IPSec VPN
Best practice for cellular connectivity is to connect via
an IPSec VPN to ensure that the console server traffic
is protected from the public internet. This
configuration enhances the security of the connection.
VertivCo.com | Vertiv Headquarters, 610 Executive Campus Drive, Westerville, Ohio 43082, USA
© 2016 Vertiv Co. All rights reserved. Vertiv, the Vertiv logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vertiv Co. All other names and logos referred to are trade names, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. While every precaution has been
taken to ensure accuracy and completeness herein, Vertiv Co. assumes no responsibility, and disclaims all liability, for damages resulting from use of this information or for any errors or omissions. Specifications are subject to change without notice.
AV-49200-(R0515)
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